WASHINGTON — On Christmas, Rep. Ralph Hall becomes the oldest person ever to serve in the U.S. House, breaking an 80-year-old record. And the Rockwall Republican shows no signs of slowing down.

“I’m just an old guy. Lived pretty clean,” he said after presiding over a recent hearing on the future of space exploration. “I have no ailments. I don’t hurt anywhere. I may run again. I’ll just wait and see.”

In 1930, North Carolina congressman Charles Manly Stedman died in office at 89 years, 7 months and 25 days. Hall will be a day older on Christmas Day.

When the new Congress is sworn in Jan. 3, he’ll begin his 17th term, having won a whopping 73 percent of the vote in a district that includes Rockwall and part of Collin counties, along with much of northeast Texas. He’ll be six decades older than his youngest colleague, a Florida freshman who turns 30 in March.

Like many octogenarians, staying busy helps keep him focused, healthy and motivated.

“He gets up and does 50 pushups every day and runs two miles,” said Dallas Rep. Pete Sessions, a Republican leader. “He can tell you a hundred different stories,” Sessions said — some of them clean enough to put in a family newspaper. “He has it together in an incredible way. … What he does up here is phenomenal.”

Congress is on break as the record arrives, though colleagues feted Hall a few weeks ago when he became the oldest member to cast a vote.

The average age in the U.S. House is 57 — the age at which Hall began his career in Congress. Longevity is far more common across the Capitol, where senators enjoy the luxury of facing voters every six years, instead of every two. The oldest ever, Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., was seven months past his 100th birthday when he died in office in 2003.

The oldest current senator, New Jersey Democrat Frank Lautenberg, was born eight months after Hall.

The Texan jokes that he’d like to break the record for longest service in the House, too — though that wouldn’t be easy. The dean of the House, Michigan Democrat John Dingell, who turned 86 in July, has served since 1955. Hall was still the Rockwall County judge at the time; he arrived in Washington in 1981. Several other members also have longer tenures than Hall.

For the last two years, Hall has chaired the space and science committee, though he’s losing that post because of term limits — he spent several years as the top Republican on the panel before the party took over the House in 2010.

“He says the good Lord gives him stamina. He takes care of himself, exercises. He has a full agenda every day,” said Hall’s longtime chief of staff, Janet Perry Poppleton, who has worked for him for 19 years. “But what really motivates him is his heart for people and to help people. That’s what keeps him going every day.”

Party switch

Politically, Hall is the quintessential survivor.

Nine years ago, he abruptly abandoned the Democratic Party ahead of the 2004 primary, allowing him to prolong a career jeopardized by redistricting and demographic shifts.

The move angered many Democrats. But Dallas Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson tracked him down that day to let him know she still loved him.

“He admitted being so happy to hear my message because his wife was mad at him. Some said she actually had him sleeping on the couch,” she recalled.

Johnson, 77, served with Hall in the Legislature and has spent the last two years beside him at hearings of the House Science, Space, and Technology committee as the panel’s senior Democrat. She called his “milestone of service to our nation” an inspiration, crediting his longevity to “keen political acumen,” an ability to get along with members of both parties, tell great stories, and use humor to defuse partisan bickering or ease a witness’s nerves.

“It’s a real skill,” she said. “Ralph Hall in many ways has been able to transcend the extreme partisan climate which exists in Washington today.”

Another senior Democrat from Georgia, civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis, 72, called Hall a gentleman and said he’s pleased to see him still on the job.

“There’s something to say about when you get to that age. You have some history. You know something about where the bodies are,” Lewis said. “You know the history of the institution and you know how to get things done.”

Hall’s wife of 63 years, Mary Ellen Hall, died in 2008. In the Science committee hearing room, where space shuttles and other examples of technological prowess adorn official portraits, Hall’s includes a startling black and white element: a reproduction of the photo on his desk. Husband and wife, young, cheek-to-cheek, smiling. He’s in the uniform of a Navy pilot.

“I’m not what I used to be, and I’m more than I used to be somewhat,” Hall said, reflecting on his ability to keep a job that wears out many younger politicians. “I have my grandchildren. Those are the ones that I think about as we pass legislation. It’s a pleasure to be here.”

Long-term goals

At his final hearing as chairman, Hall mentioned several goals for the next 10 years — the tenure he predicted for the new chairman, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio.

“I’m going to be right with him,” Hall said, working to curb the EPA’s powers, improve health policy, and push for ongoing exploration of space.

Hall is such a jokester, it was hard to tell if the 10-year prediction was tongue-in-cheek.

He offered farewells to defeated colleagues, among them Rep. Ben Quayle. Hall described a trip to Russia with Quayle’s father, Dan Quayle, who served in Congress before becoming vice president.

At a Q&A session, a Russian asked Quayle, “If you love us so much, why do you still have all those guns pointed toward us?”

Hall recalled the coaching he quietly offered.

“I said, ‘Tell the S.O.B. you don’t trust him,’” he said, smiling with pride at his own mischievousness and stifled laughter it triggered. “Dan said if I ever did him like that again, he’d get up and walk out of there.”

Rep. Randy Hultgren, R-Ill., was one of many lawmakers to offer best wishes to Hall. “I have enjoyed seeing you,” the freshman said, recalling a quip from his father, a funeral director. “It’s always better to be seen than to be viewed.”

The reference to Hall’s eventual mortality fell with a thud. Another octogenarian might have taken offense, but he responded gently.

“For your undertaker father,” he said, “let me pass on one to him that my undertaker uses on me. He says, ‘Don’t worry about if you don’t like flowers; they’ll finally grow on you.’”

Follow Todd J. Gillman on Twitter at @toddgillman.

IN THE KNOW: World War II veterans

Rep. Ralph Hall’s longevity record points to a trend: the dwindling number of World War II veterans in Congress:

House: When the new Congress is seated in January, only two veterans will remain: Hall and Democrat John Dingell of Michigan.

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